“What the hell is going on here?” Ty bellowed from the top of the stairs. His face was a mask of fury as he took the stairs two at a time. From the way he was dressed, in pajama bottoms, Russell could only surmise that their little tussle had roused him from his bed. Good. Now the two of them could be pissed off together.
Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and raised her hands in a helpless gesture. “I have no idea.” Her eyes were wide and filled with disbelief as she looked from the two of them to Ty, who quickly joined her in the foyer. “I was just—”
“Interfering,” Russell said. From the sheepish look she shot him, he knew he was dead-on. “Do you know your wife set Tamara up with Christian?”
From the stern look Ty sent Charlotte’s way, Russell could see he didn’t. “You did what?”
“I did not.”
“Right.” Russell snorted.
“For your information, he got in contact with her. Not the other way around,” Charlotte said.
“He did what?” Now Russell was really going to have to kill Christian.
“What, you can’t believe that someone besides you might want to take a trip to the dark side?” Tamara crossed her arms over her breasts and eyed him distastefully. “Or are you surprised that someone else might want to take a trip to the fat side?”
“Dark side? Fat side?” He stared at her baffled. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Like you don’t know.” Tamara shook her head in disgust and dropped her arms back to her side. “I’m going to bed. Good night.”
“Good—” Like that was going to happen. “I don’t think so. Get back here.”
“Hey. Wait.” Charlotte stepped in his path as he made to go after Tamara. A shadow of alarm fell over her face. “Maybe you should just back off and let her cool down. Tamara has a temper, and she’s—”
Blood pounded in his temples. To say he was pissed off would be putting things lightly. “Used to getting her own way. A habit she’s going to have to get over and soon.”
“But…”
He was not in the mood for bodyguards. Annoyed, he glanced over at Ty, who was watching him with a devilish look in his eyes. “Ty.”
Ty reached out and pulled Charlotte to him. “Try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. I have to get up early in the morning.”
“I’m not making any promises,” Russell said over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs in a deliberate fashion. Tamara might have thought she’d won this battle, but she was in for a rude awakening. Bypassing his door, he headed directly to hers. Not bothering to even knock, knowing she’d probably just ignore him, he opened the door.
Tamara had obviously considered the conversation over and done with, because she was stepping out of her shoes as if nothing major had just occurred. How like her. “I’m not in the mood to talk, Char.”
“Good, then maybe you’ll shut up and listen,” he said as he shut and locked the door. Standing in front of the door, he stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest.
Tamara spun around to face him, eyes wide in disbelief. “What are you doing in here?”
“Finishing our conversation.” Russell tilted his head to the side and regarded her with slight amusement. “Did you really think I was just going to let you get off that easily?”
“Let! Let?” Her voice rose as she stepped closer to him. “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”
“The biggest child I’ve ever seen.”
“Fuck you.”
“Again?” Russell slid his jacket off. “Fine with me. Just let me say, though, I don’t really think this solves anything, but if you insist.”
“Trust me, I don’t insist. I think a lack in judgment twice is twice too many.”
“And I think the only time your judgment seemed lacking was when you accepted Christian’s invitation. What was that all about?”
“That was none of your business.”
“You say that like you mean it.”
“I do,” she stated empathically. “I don’t see what the big deal is. Did I say anything to you when you went on your date?” She held up a hand to halt his words. “Excuse me, nondate?”
Was she kidding
? He let out a bark of laughter to cover his annoyance. “You said a lot without saying a word.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” he said slowly and clearly. “The very idea of me going out with Sandra, even as innocent as it was, upset the shit out of you, turning you into Bitchy McBitch in a blink of an eye.”
“You call me one more name—”
“And you’re going to do what?” He arched a brow snidely. “I think I already proved to you that strengthwise, you’re no match for me.”
“You’ve got to go to sleep sometime.”
“True, but I’m stubborn enough to NoDoz myself until you see reason.”
“What reason?” Now that was a good question, one he didn’t have an answer to off the top of his head. When he didn’t answer right away, she snorted and shook her head. “Just what I thought. You’ve got nothing.”
“If you have such a good idea of what I’m thinking or what the hell is going on here, why don’t you tell me?”
Hands on her hips she eyed him up and down. “I see another pretty boy who went slumming.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, admit it. You wanted to know if the old saying was true.”
“Which one would that be?”
“The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”
He shook his head in confusion. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Just admit it. If we hadn’t had a few drinks, you never would have touched me.”
“And today, do you think I was drinking today?”
Her glare burned through him. “No, I think you were drunk on jealousy.”
“And I think you’re out of your mind. If you recall correctly, Tamara, it wasn’t me who kicked you out of my place. That was your doing.”
She dropped her hands to her sides and regarded him with cool contempt. “I just gave you an excuse to leave.”
“What made you think I needed one?”
His words seemed to stop her cold for a moment, and a look of utter amazement came over her face. Russell would have given his right ball for a camera at that second. Tamara. Stunned silent. It was beautiful, and before she could recover, he barreled on. “You assumed I’m like every other guy you’ve fucked.” Just saying that made his gut clench. “Well, I have news for you, I’m not. I didn’t want to leave. And I’m not leaving now. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Who said I was trying to?”
Okay, now that was some funny shit. “Tamara, please. You’ve been building a wall since the moment I met you at the wedding.”
“I have not.” She frowned in denial.
“The hell you haven’t.” Russell’s anger threatened to bubble over, and he pushed it down. “We’re going to have to clear something up, right here and right now. I don’t lie. I don’t cheat. And I don’t say go left when I mean go right. If you would lower your guard, for just a second, you would realize that the only one standing in our way is you.”
“There is no ‘our.’”
“And that’s no one’s fault but your own. You can’t pigeonhole me. And I refuse to allow you to put me in some tourist box. I’m not blind. I know you’re not white or a size 2, yet”—Russell held his arms out wide—“here I am. I think that there is something between us, and I would love to explore it, but I’m not going to play the caveman and push myself on you.” Not more than he already had anyway. “I’m just going to say this one more time. There is nothing between Sandra and me. And the only thing that ever was, was sex. It’s not pretty. But it’s honest.”
“Definitely not pretty,” she muttered. Fortunately, though, Russell noticed a lack of heat in her words and her stare. It was about time.
“But if I can pretend like you came to my bed a blushing virgin and that condom magically materialized from out of nowhere”—he sent her a pointed look—“then you can overlook my lack of judgment.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Her words were haughty, but her tone was anything but.
“You’re acting like I’m giving you a choice.”
“You’re such a bully.”
He stared blankly at her. “And your point would be what?”
“We’ll want to kill each other in less than a week.”
“But what a way to go.”
Tamara shook her head as a brief smile flittered across her face. Without saying another word, she turned until she was facing the wall, then glanced over her shoulder at him. “Are you going to help me out of this dress or what?”
Not sure exactly when she’d changed her mind, Russell decided too much analysis at this point would do him no good. And if she wanted help out of her dress, he was certainly ready to do his part. Especially if it meant she’d help him out of his clothes as well. “I’d love to.”
Chapter Nine
“Morning,” Tamara said casually to Charlotte as she entered the kitchen. The pregnant woman was sitting at the small kitchen table picking at a piece of toast with all the interest of a kid picking at a plate of brussel sprouts. “Rough night?”
As if she’d been looking for a reason not to eat, Charlotte quickly pushed the plate away from her and turned until she was facing Tamara, bulge and all. “I should ask you.”
“My night was fine.” Tamara kept her back to her friend as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She knew there was no way she was going to get out of this room without spilling, but she wanted to put it off for as long as possible. “Is the intruder treating you okay?”
“No.” Charlotte sent her a “duh” look. “That’s why I know I’m having a boy. No woman would treat another woman like this.”
“It could be a girl you know. Women are quite evil to one another.”
“True.”
“You know,” Tamara began as she joined Charlotte at the table. “If you two would just let the doctor tell you what sex it is—”
“And where would be the fun in that?”
“We could finally come up with a name.”
“I have a list.”
“A list is not a name. When I get pregnant—”
“When?” Her comment seemed to amuse the other woman. “Did you say when? Sleep with a cowboy twice and now diapers and rattlers are dancing in your head.”
“The hell they are. I was just trying to make a point. That the way you’re doing it is lame.”
“Well, when you and Russell have a baby—”
“Whoa!” Charlotte was taking this thing a bit too far. “There isn’t a me and Russell.”
“Right.”
“There isn’t.”
“I think he proved quite effectively last night that there was. And I might be mistaken, but I could have sworn he slept in your room last night.”
He’d stayed in her room all right, but sleep had little to do with it. They’d gone until the wee morning hours. She still wasn’t sure why she hadn’t just kicked him straight up in the balls after his little caveman performance last night. It more than likely had to do with the hint of truth that rang in his words. Maybe she did sort of assume he might have been looking for the fastest exit out of her apartment. And she had gone to the party on purpose just to annoy him. If all of that was sort of the truth, maybe the other things he’d said were as well.
Hell, she didn’t know. All Tamara was sure about was, she was happy when she was with him. And that had to count for something. Still, she couldn’t just come out and say that to Charlotte. That would have been too much like right. “Sex has nothing to do with anything.”
Charlotte tilted her head to the side and arched a brow, but she didn’t utter a single word. Her look said it all. She didn’t believe Tamara. Not that Tamara blamed her.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Last night didn’t look like nothing to me.”
“Last night was him being mad that I went out with Christian.”
“Are you guys dating?”
“Since he left his letterman jacket and class ring at home, we’ve decided not to make it official until class on Monday.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Girl, please. I’m too old to be someone’s girlfriend.”
“So then, what are you?”
Truth be told, Tamara was confused as all hell about where she and Russell stood. She was sure about one thing, though. “We’re people who have sex with each other, but don’t see other people.”
“And are you guys going to go out on dates? You know, catch a movie and what not.”
“Maybe.” They hadn’t exactly crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s just yet. “If we want to. We are adults.”
“Let me get this straight.” Charlotte crossed her hands on top of her ample tummy. “You’re not going to see or sleep with anyone else, and you might go out and do stuff together. But you’re not dating.”
“Right.” Why did it sound stupid when Charlotte said it like that?
“And how exactly is that not dating.”
“I don’t know.” She was going to give her a headache. “We’re not complicating things by putting labels on them.”
“Oh yeah, common sense can be pretty complicated at times.”
“Who asked you?”
“Since when have I needed an invitation to have an opinion on your life?”
“I hope the intruder does a rain dance on your bladder.”
“Wow, that’s not nice.” Russell strolled into the kitchen, stopping at the table to brush a kiss on Tamara’s forehead, before heading to the sink to wash his hands.
The simple gesture felt so right, it made her yearn for more. Of course, it didn’t help that Charlotte shot her a “Yeah, right, like hell there’s nothing there” glance. Crap, why did he have to be so lovey-dovey right now? She had just finished saying they were basically fuck buddies. Way to blow her not-so-cleverly orchestrated cover. “I’m not nice, haven’t you figured that out yet?”
“I think you can be very nice.” He sent her a wink over his shoulder. “You just need the right motivation.”
“I’m not sure if I’m old enough to hear this conversation,” Charlotte teased.
“Shut it,” Tamara warned. “How was your ride?”
“Not as good as my one last night.” As Charlotte burst out laughing, all Tamara could think was how she was going to kill him. “I’m heading over to my house right now. You want to come over and check it out?”
“I was going to work on my photos.”
“You can take pictures at my place.”
“I could if my subject was lazy construction workers who are milking their clients for everything they have.”
Russell nodded his head woefully as he pulled a paper towel off the roll. “True. Very, very true.” After balling the damp towel up, he tossed it free-throw-style into the trashcan. “But you might get a few good shots of a cowboy crying as I write them yet another check.”
“I want women to feel aroused by my photos, not sad.”
“Ouch!” He winced. “You’re right. You’re not nice.”
“Told you.” Their playful banter seemed so natural it almost scared her. How was it that two nights of sex had turned them into
a couple
? Tamara never felt this sense of connection before, and Lord knew she’d kissed her share of frogs. “I’ll see you later, though.”
Russell walked over to the table and stood between the two women, resting one of his hands on the back of Tamara’s chair. “Riding back with me?”
“No,” she said looking up at him. “I brought my cousin’s car.”
He nodded as if everything made sense now. “I wondered how you got down here. What time are you leaving?” He delved his thumb through her hair and lightly began to stroke the back of her neck.
“Later this afternoon.” She all but purred the answer.
“Not before I get back, though.”
His caresses were making it difficult for her to think. “I might be persuaded to wait…if the offer is good enough.”
“Oh, I’ll make sure it’s damn good.” He leaned down to eye level as he spoke, his lips just a hairbreadth from hers. His masculine scent enveloped her.
“I’m going to be sick, and it has nothing to with the intruder.” Charlotte’s declaration, though amusing, had no effect on Russell, who continued forward until his lips brushed against her own.
Her lashes fluttered closed as she slipped under the spell he somehow managed to weave around her. Arching up toward him, she moved her hand around his nape to pull him closer, while cradling his clean-shaven jaw in the other, as she opened her lips for his gentle assault. She responded to his kiss hungrily, as if it had been weeks since their lips had last touched, and not merely hours.
After a few intense seconds, Russell slowly pulled back, dragging a distraught moan from her lips as she opened her eyes. She desperately wanted to ask him if he needed to go to his place today, but fought back the traitorous words before they could escape her now kiss-swollen lips.
“Later, love,” he whispered.
It wasn’t too soft, though, because the second he slipped from the room, Charlotte pounced. “Love?”
“Shut it.” Her words lacked a punch due to the breathlessness of them. A fact Charlotte was too quick to pick up on.
“Not on your life.”
“I need…” Tamara stood and made her way quickly to the cupboard. “A glass of water.”
“Hell, I do too after that.”
“Get your own.” Turning her head she stuck out her tongue, even as she grabbed another glass.
“You need to explain to me why you’re trying to sit on the sidelines with this man.”
Tamara was going to get right on that. As soon as she could figure out the answer for herself. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Look,” she said as she slipped the glass under the water dispenser on the refrigerator. “I’m just going to let this ride. I’m not going to make things complicated. It is what it is.” And it wasn’t what it wasn’t, which was easy and complicated all at the same time.
“I can’t wait.”
“For?” she asked, before taking a big drink from her glass.
“For you to wake up and see the truth.”
“Ugggh.” She groaned. Would this conversation never end? “What truth?”
“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” Charlotte held her hand out for the glass as Tamara resisted the urge to dump it all over her.
“You know what—”
In the middle of talking, Charlotte’s housekeeper, Ida, walked into the room, phone in hand. “Ms. Tamara, you have a phone call.”
“I do?” Her brows crinkled in confusion. Only a handful of people knew she was here.
“Yes. Mr. Christian Malt.”
* * *
With phone in hand, Russell made his way down Tamara’s hallway to stop quietly in front of her door. He glanced down at his watch to see what time it was, smiling in relief at the digital numbers staring up at him. Even though it was late, it wasn’t insulting, booty-call late. It was only a bit after nine, allowing him the pretense of respectability for just a bit more.
Closing up shop was taking longer than he would have expected. Even after he moved out to the ranch, he would have courtroom battles to deal with. It was easier for him to quit the law than it was for him to quit his clients. Rightly so, of course. They’d made him money. The least he could do is hold their hands every now and then.
Tonight was one of those moments where a retainer had come in handy for one of his clients. They needed him, and because of that, he found himself working way past the six o’clock quitting time he normally set up for himself Monday through Thursday. Yet once he was finished, instead of making his way to his partially packed condo, Russell found himself pulling up in front of Tamara’s building, wanting to see her, if only for a moment.
Though he wanted to knock on her door, sweep her into his arms, and carry her off to the bedroom, he wasn’t going to. He had a plan to tame the wild filly, and it had nothing to do with sex.
He dialed her number quickly, sort of amused he knew the number by heart. Staring down at the number she’d hastily written down for him yesterday apparently paid off.
After two rings, she breathlessly picked up. “Hello.” Just hearing her voice made his day better already.
“So what are you doing?” he said instead of the normal pleasantries. Russell wanted to keep her off guard and keep her on her toes.
Yesterday, he’d stood outside the kitchen listening in on her conversation with Charlotte, learning more about their relationship from Tamara’s point of view than he wanted to know. Like she didn’t think they were having one. Of course, that was just her take on it…for now. He was hell-bent on proving just how wrong she was. If she thought all they had was sex, then he’d take the sex away to assure her differently.
“Russell?” Her voice went from a monotone to pleased pitch. “What are you doing?”
“Talking to you. What about you?”
“Watching
House
.”
Russell frowned. “What’s that?”
“What’s tha—” she gasped, as if the very idea of him not knowing what she was referring to was just out of the question. “It’s only the best show on television.”
“I don’t watch a lot of TV.”
“This isn’t just TV.” She sounded offended. “This is
House
. The hottest, limpingest white man alive.”
Russell grinned at her description. “Yeah, still not ringing a bell.”
“That is just sad. Next Monday, I want you here at my house by eight forty-five.”
“Would you settle for here, your house, now?”
“My house?”
“Yes. I’m outside your door.”
“What?” Five seconds later she’d flung open the door. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to play hard-to-get?” When she saw him, she smiled and clicked off her phone.
“Really?” Russell teasingly raised and lowered his brows in rapid succession as he shut his cell closed. “I thought it was my job to get hard.”
“True. So very true.” Crossing her arms, she leaned against the doorjamb. “What are you doing here?”
“Visiting a friend.”
“What?” Her eyebrows rose. “You know someone else in this building?”
“Yes. And she’s in need of a very hard spanking.”
“Lucky friend.”
“I think so.”
Tamara dropped her arms and took a step back and to the side. “Are you going to spank from out there, or are you going to come on in?”
“Hmm”—Russell stroked his neatly trimmed goatee thoughtfully—“Decisions. Decisions.”
“Very funny. Get in here.” She gestured for him to come in, shutting the door and locking it once he did. She led the way to the couch and sat down, patting the cushion next to her, much to his delight.
Not one to turn down a good opportunity once it was presented to him, Russell joined her, settling next to her as the music softly came on. “So what’s this show abou—”
“Shh!” Tamara elbowed him softly in his side. “You’re allowed to speak during commercials.”
Chuckling, Russell shook his head and pulled her in close to him. With a contented sigh, he stretched his legs out in front of them and felt his shoulders practically melt into the plush cushions on the back of her couch. Relaxed didn’t fully describe him.
Even during the commercials, they didn’t speak much, and Russell didn’t mind at all. By the time the show was over, he was no closer to understanding what she saw in the rude lead character, but he was closer to figuring out what he saw in her.